Where Amazon’s EC2 Falls Down

Amazon EC2 is a veritable Wal-Mart of cloud computing, offering low, low prices and service targeted at mainstream tech. It works for most people most of the time. But in going broad, Amazon has ignored customers who need more than just the basics.

That’s left an enormous opportunity for boutique cloud providers, small companies that offer custom-made clouds for clients with special needs. Each boutique provider offers something special: robust service-level agreements (SLAs), superior security, a localized offering with lower latencies, greater simplicity or just the promise of a personal relationship.

You can see some prominent examples of market segmentation already taking hold. Rackspace, for example, is differentiating its offering with the promise of “fanatical support.” If you want someone to answer the phone when you have a problem, you’ll be attracted to what it offers.

Then there are companies that service markets that Amazon has yet to penetrate. If you need cloud infrastructure in Sydney you’ll find that the closest EC2 instance available is in Singapore, nearly 4,000 miles away. Latency can be a serious issue at those distances. New Zealand’s theCloud is there to help, with NZ$99-per-month virtualized servers in Auckland, Hamilton and Wellington, New Zealand.

Combine that with a government mandate that prohibits transfer of personal data outside of New Zealand, and you can see why it’s gaining ground. You can bet startups coming out of Peter Thiel’s new fund will be looking at theCloud’s offering.

ServedBy the Net founder Josh Breeds focuses on flexibility and servering customers who want more options for their cloud. He offers the opportunity for customers to provision their own edge devices, such as firewall appliances, if they want enhanced security. He also offers the option to lease dedicated compute resources for applications that require special hardware or when per-instance pricing isn’t as effective.

And these are just a few examples. We’ve discovered more than 80 cloud service providers, each offering something slightly different. While Amazon tries to be all things to all customers, these companies offer a custom experience, a bespoke offering. And options are increasingly important to customers in the cloud.